The house that Dustin Hazelett's submissions built

With every submission attempt he fired at Josh Burkman, 22-year-old Dustin Hazelett inched ever closer to that big milestone in becoming a responsible adult: home ownership.

That guillotine attempt to kick off his fight at The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale on Saturday? That could have paid for an extra bedroom. That brief omaplata? One step closer to a double-car garage.

The rear-naked choke attempt, the near-successful D’arce choke, and the fight-ending arm-bar? A down payment, closing costs, and a bunch of mortgage payments.

For Hazelett (11-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC), a Team Jorge Gurgel fighter based near Cincinnati, Friday’s second-round submission victory over Burkman was a breakout win. And the victory, which took place at The Palms Las Vegas, couldn’t have come at a better time for the aspiring homeowner.

“I’ve been looking at this house,” Hazelett told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “It’s a phenomenal house. Before (the fight), it was real iffy. The money was especially tight. I’m getting a good deal because it’s in foreclosure, but it was still going to be real tight because, as a fighter, your income is really unsteady. … It’s hard to tell when the money’s coming in, so it’s really hard to make financial commitments. This definitely helps a lot.”

The “this” the UFC welterweight is referring to is his bonus money. Hazelett’s performance with Burkman, which included masterful ground work and one of the year’s slickest submissions, earned the Brazilian jiu jitsu brown belt a $20,000 Submission of the Night bonus — and an additional $20,000 for Fight of the Night.

Prior to Saturday’s win, Hazelett owned a respectable 3-2 record in the UFC. However, the big paydays have always been reserved for the televised fighters, and Hazelett had been stuck on five consecutive un-aired preliminary UFC cards.

The same went for Saturday’s fight. Hazelett and Burkman fought just minutes before Spike TV began its three-hour broadcast. He was hopeful the fight would be shown via tape delay, and after every bout, Hazelett and everyone in his locker room would huddle around the TV.

“We’d get all excited and say, ‘Show it, show it, show it!'” Hazelett said.

But they never did.

However, the fight-of-the-night performance wasn’t all for naught.

The next morning, UFC Vice President of Talent Relations Joe Silva hitched a ride to the airport with Hazelett. Silva told him that they had every intention of airing the fight via tape delay, and he apologized that it never happened. Still, it wasn’t a complete loss. The following day, the UFC made the unprecedented move of making the fight available — for free — right on its official site. Hundreds of thousands of fans have already watched the fight.

“I was kind of shocked they did it,” Hazelett said. “I’ve never heard of them doing that before, but I guess they’re trying to get more fights out there. To be the first is pretty cool.”

Prior to his fight with Burkman, Hazelett suffered a second-round TKO loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 82. Hazelett nearly ended the March fight with a head kick, then with a guillotine, then with a triangle choke. However, he got lazy with his jab in the second, and Koscheck capitalized. Despite his fight with Burkman having a more favorable outcome, Hazelett still wasn’t completely pleased with the performance.

“I was actually disappointed with myself,” he said. “I was just watching the fight on UFC.com. I was happy with my jiu jitsu and ground work, but striking, I was pretty disappointed because I worked so hard, and I know I could have done better. I was hesitating and not throwing. He’d throw a shot, and I should have countered, but for whatever reason, I didn’t. If I would have thrown like I did while sparring and in training, I would have looked a lot better.”

Still, he’s not going to downplay the importance of the win.

“That was a huge win for me, especially being able to finish him” Hazelett said. “Burkman doesn’t usually get finished. If he does lose, it’s usually by a close decision. He’s only been submitted a few times.

“I think it was definitely the greatest win of my career. I’d call it that.”

For now, Hazelett doesn’t expect to take much time off from training. But he also knows he probably won’t be rushed back into competition anytime soon.

“I’ve got some general soreness in the head-to-toe area,” Hazelett joked. “But there’s nothing major — nothing anyone wants to hear about, anyway. I’ve heard the UFC is booked (with its fight cards) until September, so I probably won’t be back in there right away.”

In the mean time, it’ll be business as usual for the gym rat. You’ll probably find him back at Team Jorge Gurgel, or — thanks to Saturday’s big win and bonus money — doing some odd jobs around that new house of his.

(Photo courtesy UFC.com)

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To watch the entire Dustin Hazelett vs. Josh Burkman fight for free, go to UFC.com and click on the first story in the rotating-news section.